Former stage race champion Alberto Contador has dismissed predictions that WorldTour teams will be wiped out if the Tour de France is not held this year.

Colombia's Rigoberto Urán (EF Pro Cycling) recently said that only three WorldTour teams would survive if the Tour de France, currently delayed two months and scheduled to start in late August, were canceled altogether.

In a recent interview with Cycling News, Contador acknowledged that a 2020 season without the Tour would be damaging, but argued that the Colombian's doomsday predictions for the sport's pinnacle were too pessimistic.

"There are two possibilities in this situation [the COVID-19 pandemic]. No team will be the same as before," Contador said.

"Some teams will certainly struggle to survive and may find themselves in debt if sponsorship dries up. But the World Tour will not shrink to three teams."

"The reason is that with or without the coronavirus, the big multinationals will have to keep spending money on marketing. And if cycling has worked well for them in the past, they will continue to spend money there."

Contador agreed that there are parallels between the current bleak economic climate and the period from 2008 to 2010, when the world was hit by a major financial crisis but things eventually turned around.

"Take bicycle manufacturers, for example," Contador noted. "The negative effects of the pandemic have reached their production lines, their distribution chains, and their stores. Many stores have closed, bikes are not selling, and frames are piling up in back rooms.

"Many bicycle manufacturers have fallen on hard times and some will go out of business. But companies that are healthy and ultimately survive the crisis, not just in cycling, may benefit from this situation in the long run.

Contador explained that his optimism is not just because he sees the future of the cycling world.

"The situation we are all in right now is really tough, in every sense of the word. But if there is one thing humans are good at, it is overcoming problems, and I really believe in that."

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Recently, there has been much discussion sparked by Team Ineos director Dave Brailsford's statement that "professional road racing is overly dependent on the Tour de France."

However, Contador, for all Brailsford's eagerness for a season with more points, has been quick to point out that when it comes to Ineos' current strategy for cycling's biggest bike race, the team's policy is perfectly logical given the media interest in the Tour, but the status quo However, he argues that it has done little to help change the status quo.

"This particular argument [for an increased focus on the cycling season outside of the Tour] is not necessarily new," Contador said.

"I think Dave was one of the first to understand that, especially given that Ineos is one of the first teams to prioritize the Tour. In the Vuelta a España or the Giro d'Italia, you might have a strong team or a weak team depending on the year, but we always send our best teams to the Tour de France."

Contador, warming to his theme, further speculated.

"Imagine Dave lining up Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, and Chris Froome for the Giro d'Italia and sending all three to the Vuelta a España instead of the Tour. Ha. That would certainly change things.

"The only thing is, of course, that it's very difficult to justify that decision to the sponsors.

While waiting for the Tour de France and the global blockade to end, Contador launched a series of group online training sessions via Instagram.

"Three days a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 7pm local time on Instagram Live," Contador told Cycling News. 'We are in a critical situation. Pros and other riders are allowed to go out in some places, but in places like Spain and Italy they still can't go out at all.

"From the first moment the blockade started, I said, 'I don't really like to run rollers, I don't really like to run rollers.'

"So I came up with the idea of doing specific training sessions on the rollers, like I used to do when I was preparing for the Grand Tour, and streaming it all live online."

According to Contador, the idea started with about 5,000 people following the training rides on the Internet, but then that total number grew significantly, and he was attacking the end of the series by putting replays of certain key races in his career and trying to spice things up a bit. But there is a certain selfishness to his group turbo sessions, he admitted with a laugh.

"Lockdown can be really taxing. Sometimes I reward myself with snacks or a glass of wine or beer. So doing Turbo sessions three times a week helps me stay fit and it works for me."

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